The research measured the performance of 4G and 3G services on smartphones from the four main mobile operators - EE, O2, Three and Vodafone - in Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London and Manchester.

Helping to improve mobile coverage and quality of service are important objectives for Ofcom. Today’s report is intended to help consumers understand differences in performance between 3G and 4G, and this kind of research is designed to support consumers in choosing a service that best suits their needs. The findings are also expected to encourage providers to improve their performance.

Research methodology

Using smartphones, some 210,000 tests of 4G and 3G mobile broadband were carried out both indoors and outdoors across the five UK cities between March and June 2014. The measurements were taken by experienced Ofcom engineers.

The research compared the performance of 4G and 3G services overall and highlighted variations between operators across four key measures:

Download speed - the speed it takes to download data from the web.

Upload speed - how long it takes to upload content such as pictures or videos.

Web browsing speed - the time it takes to load a standard web page.

Latency - the time it takes data to travel to a third-party server and back, which is important to reduce delays when making video calls, for example.

In making choices, it is critical for consumers to assess what their priorities are. For example, faster download and upload speeds are important when accessing high volumes of data from a small number of sites, like when sharing images over social media, or downloading video files to watch on the move.

But for streaming video, while it is important that the download speed is sufficient to deliver adequate quality, once this threshold is met it is likely that the total capacity available within a mobile contract’s data cap is more important.

For customers browsing the web with multiple tabs open, or making video calls, browsing speed and latency are important for better responsiveness and reduced delays.

Ofcom recognises that mobile operators are continuing to expand their networks. The results, therefore, offer a snapshot of performance in the cities tested between March and June 2014.

To ensure it is up to date with network developments, Ofcom intends to carry out a further wave of research and will be reporting the findings next year.

Download speeds

The average mobile broadband download speed on 4G (15.1Mbit/s) was more than twice as fast as 3G (6.1Mbit/s) across all the networks.

The research found that performance varied by operator. EE and O2 offered faster than average 4G download speeds at 18.4 Mbit/s and 15.6Mbit/s respectively. Vodafone delivered an average 4G download speed of 14.3Mbit/s and Three, 10.7Mbit/s.

Three was the last operator to roll-out 4G services in the UK and offers the service to all customers that have 4G-enabled handsets.

EE and Vodafone delivered the fastest average 3G download speeds - at 6.8Mbit/s and 6.7Mbit/s respectively. This compared with average 3G speeds of 5.6Mbit/s for O2 and 5.2Mbit/s for Three.

Average 4G and 3G download speeds by network

Upload speeds

Uploading content, such as photos or videos, takes significantly less time on 4G. The data shows that 4G mobile upload speeds were more than seven times faster than for 3G (12.4Mbit/s compared to 1.6Mbit/s).

EE’s (14.7Mbit/s) and O2’s (13.0Mbit/s) 4G upload speeds were above average, followed by Vodafone and Three with 11.4Mbit/s and 11.1Mbit/s respectively. Three achieved the fastest average 3G upload speed (1.7Mbit/s).

Average 4G and 3G upload speed by network

Web browsing

It takes less than a second for a basic web page to load on a smartphone using a 4G mobile connection (0.78 seconds on average across all networks), according to the research. This compares to 1.06 seconds on average across all networks using a 3G mobile connection.

Three offers the fastest web-browsing experience both on 4G (0.62 seconds on average to load a web page) and on 3G connections (0.93 seconds on average to load a web page). EE provided the second fastest web-browsing experience on 4G (0.76 seconds on average to load a web page) and on 3G connections (1.05 seconds, on average).

It takes customers of O2 and Vodafone 0.82 seconds to load a web page on 4G connections. Web pages also took longer to load on O2’s 3G service (1.17 seconds) compared with the other providers.

Average time taken to load a web page by network (lower is better)

Latency

Lower latency will give a customer better responsiveness and reduced delays - important for web browsing and video calling. The results showed 4G services had lower latency and are more responsive than 3G services. This makes 4G more suitable for video calling or running apps where a fast response time is needed. Average 4G latency across all networks was 55.0 milliseconds (ms), compared with 66.7ms on 3G.

Three took the least time to deliver data (lowest latency), both on 4G (47.6ms) and 3G (53.8ms). O2 had the highest levels of latency (62.7ms on 4G and 86.4ms on 3G).

Average 4G and 3G latency by network (lower is better)

Differences between cities

The research also revealed differences in performance between the five cities analysed.

Download speed

The highest average download speeds for 4G and 3G were recorded in Edinburgh (16.8Mbit/s and 7.8Mbit/s respectively). London had the lowest average 4G (13.1Mbit/s) and 3G (4.1Mbit/s) download speeds.

Upload speed

Manchester had the highest average 4G upload speed (13.2Mbit/s), while Glasgow and London had the lowest (11.8Mbit/s and 12.0Mbit/s respectively). The highest average 3G upload speeds were recorded in Edinburgh and Glasgow (both 1.7Mbit/s), while the lowest were found in London (1.4Mbit/s).

Web browsing

London had the fastest 4G web-browsing speed, taking an average of 0.72 seconds to load a standard web page. Web pages took the longest to load in Glasgow (0.82 seconds on average). 3G web-browsing was quickest in Manchester (1.01 seconds on average to load a web page) and slowest in London (1.2 seconds on average).

Latency

Latency on 4G was lowest in London (48.8ms on average) while Birmingham had the lowest levels on 3G (63.6ms). Edinburgh had the highest average levels of latency for both 4G and 3G with readings of 60.3ms and 69.4ms respectively.

4G and 3G coverage by operator

4G coverage varies across the UK, but has increased rapidly since the service was launched in autumn 2012. While the research was conducted in cities where both 4G and 3G were available, 4G is currently available from at least one operator in around 70% of UK premises.

Mobile operators have indicated they intend to match O2’s 98% indoor coverage obligation for 4G mobile services by 2015. This will extend mobile broadband coverage into many areas still underserved by 3G.

All four operators meet the 90% coverage obligation for 3G under the terms of their licences. However, this research uses more demanding criteria, in line with consumers’ expectations. Ofcom’s methodology assesses coverage where operators have busier networks, higher take-up of 3G services and deliver 3G at faster speeds.

4G and 3G coverage for the four national operators: June 2014 and October 2014

Note: Ofcom’s methodology estimates premises with coverage, based on operator signal strength predictions. 3G and 4G data for EE, O2 and Vodafone, and 3G data for Three, are based on the operators’ submissions, checked against Ofcom’s own field measurements. In the time available it was not possible to resolve differences between Three’s data and Ofcom’s field measurements on 4G coverage, leading to its omission from this report. However, while not reporting estimates, Ofcom notes recent data, collected and published by OpenSignal, shows Three has the lowest 4G coverage of the four national operators.

Ed Richards, Ofcom Chief Executive, said: “Having fast, reliable broadband on the move is vital for many consumers and businesses across the UK. Today’s research shows 4G is providing a significantly enhanced mobile broadband experience to customers, which we expect to be available to 98% of the UK population by 2017 at the latest.

“Improving mobile quality of service is an important area of Ofcom’s work. Our research both incentivises mobile providers to offer a higher quality of service, while helping consumers choose a mobile package that best suits their needs.”

Next steps

Ofcom is making progress on its plan to support improved mobile coverage in the UK and provide consumers with reliable information on mobile quality of service.

Ofcom is also supporting the Government’s £150m mobile infrastructure project, which is funding mobile phone masts in uncovered areas. Ofcom is also providing technical support to the Department for Transport and Network Rail on improving mobile services on railways.

Ofcom will continue to monitor and report on how mobile service quality develops over time. The second phase of this research is under way and we expect to publish in spring 2015.

ENDS

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Today’s mobile broadband speeds research was carried out between March and June this year. The mobile operators are rapidly expanding and optimising their networks and therefore speeds and general performance results set out in this report may not represent current or future performance.

Mobile broadband is one factor that consumers consider when choosing a mobile service alongside things like price, handset, coverage, customer service and voice performance, which Ofcom reported on in August. The research report presents information on mobile broadband performance between March and June 2014 in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Glasgow. All four operators included in the study had both 4G and 3G coverage in the selected locations.

The methodology has been designed to measure the consumer experience of using mobile broadband. It has also been designed to produce a statistically robust dataset which treats each operator on a fair and equivalent basis. This is to allow Ofcom to compare 4G and 3G networks as a whole, and to be able to compare the performance of each operator’s network on 3G and the performance of each operator’s network on 4G on a fair and equivalent basis. To achieve this, publicly-available smartphones were used with industry-standard measurement software loaded on to them. Testing was conducted in public places in cities in areas where 4G has been launched, testing indoors and outdoors.

OpenSignal produce independent maps of mobile coverage using crowd sourced data from an app downloaded on Android and iOS. OpenSignal measure coverage based on how often a user running one of their apps can connect to a 3G or 4G network. By checking this automatically every 15 minutes they can build up a geographical picture of where 3G and 4G services are available and calculate the average time that users of a given mobile network can access 3G and 4G services. A higher number suggests that operator has better coverage. Note that these numbers are not a percentage of geographical area covered by mobile networks. The report is available here: http://opensignal.com/reports/2014/10/uk-networks-report/.

Ofcom will publish full coverage data for all four national mobile operators later this year in its Infrastructure Report.

The first national mobile network operator to commercially launch a 4G network was EE in autumn 2012. This was followed by Vodafone and O2 who began offering 4G services at the end of summer 2013. Three launched 4G in March 2014. All national operators continue to rapidly deploy their 4G networks.

Ofcom’s 4G auction in 2013 was designed in such a way that one licence - acquired by O2 - has to roll out 4G to cover at least 98% of the UK population (when indoors) by 2017 at the latest. This results in more than 99% coverage for 4G when outdoors. Other UK mobile operators have indicated they intend to match the 98% coverage. Ofcom’s UK Mobile Services Map 2013 provides information on the level of outdoor mobile coverage in the UK by administrative authority.